Nick Young claims he once turned down Rihanna.

Nick Young and Iggy Azalea

Nick Young and Iggy Azalea

The 31-year-old singer attended one of his basketball games in 2014 and when he was asked by reporters about his impressive performance, Nick said he was trying to impress Rihanna.

After the star heard his comments, she reportedly reached out to him but Nick didn't take things further because he was dating Iggy Azalea at the time.

Speaking on the 'Certified Buckets' podcast, Nick said: "I had a good game, so [the reporters] asked me why ... and I said, you know, Rihanna was there.

"She hit me back, but I couldn't go full throttle with it because I was like, in the beginning stages of my relationship with [Iggy]."

Podcast host Sarunas J Jackson was shocked and said: "Wrong one man. You coulda been King of Barbados! You could have been first man of Barbados right now!"

However, Nick, 34, insisted he made the right decision.

He said: "I think I did pretty good, though. It worked out for a little bit."

Nick and Iggy called off their engagement in 2016 when it became public knowledge that Nick had conceived a child with his ex Keonna Green while still with the star.

The rapper wrote a statement at the time of their split claiming that whilst she still "loved" Nick, she was unable to "rebuild her trust in him".

She wrote: "Unfortunately although I love Nick and have tried and tried to rebuild my trust in him - It's become apparent in the last few weeks I am unable to. I genuinely wish Nick the best.

"It's never easy to part ways with the person you planned you're entire future with, but futures can be rewritten and as of today mine is a blank page."

Prior to calling off their engagement, the Australian rapper - who began dating Nick in 2013 and became engaged in 2015 - caught her boyfriend having sex with a mystery woman on their home CCTV and, while she forgave him and tried to work through their trust issues, the final straw came when she found out about Keonna.

Nick and Keonna are now back together and have three children, Nick Jr., Nyce and Navi, together.